OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The lack of a standout, the unknown quality of two European shippers, and a changeable forecast make Saturday's $150,000 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct a difficult puzzle to solve.

Scheduled to be New York's final turf stakes of the year for fillies and mares, the Grade 2 Long Island drew 15 entries. A forecast that now calls for rain to begin Saturday afternoon could force the race to the main track. If that occurs, the Long Island would be run at 1 3/8 miles rather than 1 1/2 miles.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - This city in mid-November is not exactly a popular destination for travelers - unless, of course, you are a 3-year-old Thoroughbred filly specializing in grass racing.

The event that proves so popular within that narrowly defined sector of racehorses is the $150,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes, a Churchill Downs fixture that represents a last-gasp opportunity within the division, since most races by this time of year already have been opened to 3-year-olds and upward.

Zydeco Affair and Leo's Last Hurrahy will deservedly vie for favoritism in Saturday night's $150,000 Sam Houston Texan Juvenile at Sam Houston Race Park, but if either colt is to win the 1 1/16-mile race, he will have to show an added dimension.

The Juvenile is the richest of nine stakes on Texas Champions Day. It also is the lone open race on the program, with the remaining eight stakes restricted to horses bred in Texas. Purses for the night total $650,000.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The only time Puxa Saco was beaten was in her lone try around two turns. Other than that, she is perfect in three sprints. Further, she has shown an ability to adapt to different surfaces, a trend trainer Jenine Sahadi hopes continues when Puxa Saco runs in Saturday's $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Our Lucky Kiss, fresh off a strong second against males in the Nov. 2 OTBA Sales Stakes, is the one to beat in Saturday's $14,980 Janet Wineberg Stakes for Oregon-bred 2-year-old fillies.

Our Lucky Kiss, a daughter of Swiss Yodeler who races for Howard Seigel, will face only five rivals, including a stable coupling, in the six-furlong Janet Wineberg.

Our Lucky Kiss made her first 10 starts in California, culminating in a maiden victory over $12,500 company at Fresno

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Smugglers Cove has won 21 races from 54 starts and eight of her last nine. She will likely be a solid favorite in the sixth race Saturday, an allowance race for fillies and mares who haven't won a stakes worth $20,000 or more this year.

The distance of the race is 1 1/16 miles, and therein lies the problem for chalk players. Although Smugglers Cove has an enviable record, she has never won a race longer than 6 1/2 furlongs and has tried going this far only twice in her career.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A potential Kentucky Derby prospect, Gigawatt, runs at Woodbine Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile Display Stakes for 2-year-olds.

Gigawatt, a handsome Wild Again colt, graduated by 17 lengths in his second start. Trainer Mark Casse didn't hesitate to run him back in the Grade 2 Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes on Oct. 6.

Gigawatt tracked the pace under Patrick Husbands in the 1 1/16-mile Grey, and seemed headed for victory at the top of the stretch, but favored Wando blew by him at the eighth pole, and went on to win by nearly three lengths.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - John Kimmel is getting ready to send the bulk of his barn to Florida for the winter. The next few weeks will give him an idea of just how much he has to look forward to in 2003.

Kimmel has several 2-year-old prospects he believes could be top-flight 3-year-olds. One of those is Silver Squire, who will be first or second choice in Sunday's $75,000 Huntington Stakes at Aqueduct.

Although six out-of-towners have been lured to Mountaineer Park by the $100,000 purse up for grabs in Saturday night's ninth running of the Mountaineer Mile Handicap, they really aren't strangers.

Four of the shippers in Saturday's field of eight older horses have had one previous race over the main track at the Chester, WVa., oval. And three of those returned home winners, an indication that when trainers travel in quest of the slot revenue-enhanced purses at Mountaineer, they mean business.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Dean Butler was taken off all mounts Wednesday after agreeing to a request by the Churchill Downs stewards to submit to a drug-screening test. Bernie Hettel, the track's chief steward, said the request came after Butler was questioned by local police about possible illegal possession of prescription drugs. Butler was represented by counsel at a stewards' meeting Thursday at Churchill.

Results of the test were due back Friday. In the meantime, Butler, 31, was allowed to continue riding.